Answer Key

Anyone who knows anything about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints knows that we love us some modern revelation, and we believe whole-heartedly in an open cannon of scripture (essentially meaning that the Bible isn't the end of what God has to say). The nickname that most people know us by comes from a book -- the Book of Mormon, which we believe to be the word of God -- and we love it.

I would go a step further than saying that the Book of Mormon God's word. It is. That's for sure. In addition to that, it contains the answers to all of life's great questions ("should I get bangs" is unfortunately not considered one of life's great questions).

I tell people that all the time, so I thought I should at least try it out for myself. This morning I thought of a really good question. A question to end all questions. A question that, if answered, had the potential to change my life.

Does God know me?

I am willing to bet that I'm not the only one who's ever wondered this. I decided to test out the Book of Mormon and see if it really could answer my question. And I had complete faith that my answer was in there somewhere, I just had to find it.

I flipped through the pages for a while, and I looked in the index and the topical guide, but I didn't find any verse that was sufficent. Nothing that I felt was speaking just to me. Then, I remembered a verse that I had read just a few days ago. So I turned to it.

There it was. My answer. Highlighted in yellow and underlined.

"God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth." (Alma 26:37)

Maybe you think that's just a coincidence.

It's not.

When I read the verse the first time, it wasn't particularly significant to me. Nothing about it really stood out, and it took me about an hour to even remember that I'd read it. But when I was searching for an answer, I found it in that verse. I would like to selfishly belive that it was put there just for me. (Except it was also written just for you.) I know that the Book of Mormon really is the answer key to life. It brings peace into my life, and it has the power to change my life, and yours, because it really is the word of our eternal Heavenly Father.